Yes, a bad pun I know, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that Jack Daniel’s newest product – the Tennessee Honey Whiskey Liqueur – will be available in South Africa come July 1st. We are amongst the first countries outside of the States to be getting JD’s first new product in about 15 years. Drinks companies have set their sights firmly on converting the younger- and female-markets into devotees of their brands so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Brown-Forman Corporation, owners of Jack Daniel’s, would want a huge slice of that pie. With a whole host of flavoured alcoholic drinks and liqueurs to choose from ranging from caramel vodkas to wine coolers to sickly sweet rum-based offerings, will Jack be able to claim his space?
I think so and I’ll tell you why…
| While I am not the biggest fan of Jack Daniel’s whiskey nor am I particularly fond of honey, it was with some delight that a courier arrived on my doorstep the other day and dropped off this rather cool-looking package. I didn’t waste time in opening the pseudo-beehive box, with the Tennesse Honey bee cut out of the lid, to find a bounty of treasure waiting inside.
My very own bottle #1 of 120 (which was a nice marketing ploy – turns out others also got bottle #1 ;)) of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey with it’s honeycomb coloured label, a jar of Jack’s honey, a wooden honey spoon, a brochure and a nice credit-card sized branded memory stick with some PR info and some of the great commercials made for Tennessee Honey. Bravo to Jack Daniel’s marketing & PR companies – a great bundle that ties in exceptionally well with the new brand. |
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Here is one of the commercials, featuring King Bee, the biggest, baddest biker-meets-bee in the hive…
[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDGddRBx2Y0[/youtube]
A little bit of honey. A whole lot of Jack.
That’s how Jack Daniel’s punts their new product and the description fits. Possibly the smoothest version of Jack Daniels out there thanks to the honey liqueur. Plenty of honey, caramel and cinnamon come through – warm spices and pralines with a hint of chocolate in there somewhere. (At 35% ABV a bit of the alcoholic sting is taken out of its tail making for a smooth drink.)
Being a thorough chap, I thought it would be prudent to try the Jack Honey in various forms as suggested by their brochure. So after chilling the bottle in my refrigerator for a few hours I duly poured a shot, a dram on ice, and a cocktail mixer consisting of the liqueur, some lemonade and a couple of slices of lemon.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Liqueur Tasted
| The shot | Woah! Way to sweet for my palate, but I can see it being a perfect kick start to an evening for youngsters on a night out on the town. |
| Tennessee Honey with ice | Better, still quite sweet, but I could see this going down well around the poolside or at a braai. |
| Jack Honey with a mixer | Now this is nice! I may have found my summer drink. Substituting soda water for lemonade and lime for lemon would balance out the sweetness a bit better. I’ll have to try it like that next time. |
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In the interests of further research, and to maintain my “cool guy who gets new drinks before they are available to the public” status, I took the bottle along to a lazy afternoon get together with friends over the weekend and it went down a treat. Two of my guy friends – both avid whisky drinkers – are keen to buy a bottle when it hits the shelves, and all our wives (who are not fans of whisky at all) professed to enjoying it too.
So based on my own impressions, and that of my small research group (a.k.a. the rowdy bunch) I would put money on the fact that the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Liqueur is going to sell, and sell well. You’ll be able to find it country-wide come 1st of July and it should retail at around R190 per bottle. |
Sláinte!
Through which retailer can we find the Honey liqueur ?
Hi Gerard, all the major retailers like Makro, PnP Liquor, Tops@Spar, Ultra Liquors, Liquor City, etc should have it in stock at this stage.